Made for You

Reality TV and AI collide in Satterthwaite’s imaginative debut about a synthetic woman (or “synth”) suspected of murdering her husband. WekTech industries created Julia Walden to compete on a popular dating series, The Proposal, for the heart of Joshua LaSala. Charmed by Julia’s beauty and kindness, Josh chooses her, and they marry. Fourteen months later, the couple’s romance has soured: they’re struggling to raise an infant daughter and their rural home in Indiana is regularly vandalized by Proposal viewers. Overwhelmed, Josh heads out on a camping trip to clear his head. When he fails to return home, Sheriff Hank Mitchell informs Julia that his empty car was found in the woods near a highway. Hank, who has a strong aversion to synths, is convinced that Julia has something to do with Josh’s disappearance. Desperate, Julia turns to her creator, Andy Wekstein, and her daughter’s babysitter, Eden Jeliazkova, for help clearing her name. Satterthwaite alternates the trio’s investigation of Josh’s disappearance with flashbacks that flesh out Julia’s backstory, building to an eerie and satisfying conclusion the implications of which will linger in readers’ minds long after the story ends. This provocative blend of domestic thriller and speculative fiction will leave suspense fans hungry for Satterthwaite’s sophomore effort. Agent: Lauren Bieker, Fineprint Literary. (July)